I know what you’re thinking–Thanksgiving is over. You’re right, but I’m still pretty darn thankful for all the blessings in my life.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been getting extremely frustrated lately with job searching, and being laid off for the past seven months has really started to wear on me. In fact, it’s been pretty easy to get caught up in all that frustration and overlook the good things in my life. I really do have so many great people and things in my life to be thankful for, including quite a few things that I probably wouldn’t have found without having some time to reflect on myself and my life over the past seven months.

I know a lot of people did 30 days of thanks, but let’s be honest, I can barely get out a whole blog post, so 30 items is pushing it. Maybe I’ll just go with a top 5 list…

1. My family. My family is amazing and I’m so lucky to have them in my life. I’ve been very fortunate to enjoy some fun visits with them lately. I’m so happy that my sister was able to visit for a few days over Thanksgiving. I love having her here, but she can’t come very often so it’s extra special when she can. I’m also extremely happy that my mom is coming to visit (read: hanging out with me, but also putting the lights on my Christmas tree). In my book, putting lights on the tree is the #1 Pain of Christmas. I really hope y’all have heard that song. If not, Google it now–not later–now. My dad is visiting too, which is convenient since I’ve been jonesing for some skee ball. I’m really happy that he’s coming so I can kick his butt in that. Please note: He always wins.

2. My dog. Yes, he is a part of the family, but he still deserves his own bullet point. He’s that cool.

3. My health. Many people never realize how much they appreciate it until it’s gone; I’m determined to appreciate it before that happens.

4. My friends. I have some really great friends. As crazy as it sounds, realizing who my true friends are has been one of my favorite things throughout this layoff. At times it’s been one of those tough ‘life lessons’ that you really don’t want to learn, but I still appreciate the clarity that I’ve gained from it. It’s been amazing to see who has stayed in my life, and who disappeared just as it started to get tough. To those of you who stuck around–Thank You! I honestly cannot tell you how much it’s meant to me; I only hope that I can be as good of a friend back to you as you have been to me.

5. Dreams & Aspirations. I’ve always been very driven and extremely focused on the future–dreaming about the possibilities of what could be. In fact, that’s probably what got me to where I am today. The great thing about having dreams & goals, is that they provide me with something to strive for and keep me from settling. “Good enough” is never really good enough in my opinion. Most recently, that drive for success led me to file the paperwork to form A+ PR & Marketing–a small pr/marketing firm, where right now I’m just doing some freelance stuff, but who knows what it could grow into.